The study will explore the how thermal mechanical boundary conditions play a role in the ablative technique in the pelvic region.

在过去的二十年里，在局部麻醉下进行的热消融治疗腿部静脉返流非常成功。在过去的十年里，随着盆腔静脉反流的诊断，身体其他部位静脉反流病的治疗有所改善，目前使用双重超声诊断盆腔静脉反流是怀特利诊所(TWC)开发的黄金标准技术。目前治疗方法是弹簧圈栓塞术。TWC和萨里大学最近的合作开发了一种治疗盆腔静脉的新的热消融技术；然而，盆腔区域的性质(如果静脉穿孔，与主要器官直接接触)意味着在将新方法引入人类临床使用之前，必须进行大量的开发和验证工作。该博士将开发这项新技术，通过构建盆腔静脉反流患者腹部组织热传导的准确模型来开发这项新技术。这些模型将从患者扫描中开发出来，并重建为3D模型，然后使用有限元分析软件如Ansys或COMSOL进行分析。血管中的血液流动也需要模拟，因为它在动态温度分布中扮演着同样重要的角色。最近发表的关于离散血管模型的研究已被证明不适用于临床应用；需要有效的基于温度的优化方法，包括骨盆区域离散血管的热机械效应，考虑生化环境以及所有其他边界条件。这项研究将探索热机械边界条件如何在盆腔区域的消融技术中发挥作用，其中盆腔区域的动态温度分布对于评估在骨盆区域引入热消融技术的风险非常重要。更重要的是，它将寻求确保静脉内使用的消融能量不会影响正在接受治疗的静脉周围的主要器官。这将使拟议开发到下一产品开发阶段的新热技术具有安全、风险评估的可行性。

Venous reflux in the legs has been treated very successfully in the past two decade using thermal ablation conducted under local anaesthetic. The treatment of venous reflux disease elsewhere in the body has improved in the last decade with the diagnosis of pelvic venous reflux, currently diagnosed using duplex ultrasound the gold standard technique developed at The Whiteley Clinic (TWC). This is currently treated by coil embolization. Recent work between TWC and the University of Surrey has led to the development of a new thermal ablation technique to treat pelvic veins; however, the nature of the pelvic region (where if the vein perforates, there is direct contact to major organs) means that significant development and validation work must be done before the new approach can be introduced for human clinical use. This PhD will develop this new technique by constructing an accurate model of thermal conduction through the tissues of the abdomens of patients suffering with pelvic venous reflux. These models will be developed from patient scans and the reconstructed into 3D models before being analysed by finite element analysis software such as ANSYS or COMSOL. Blood flow in the vessels will also need to be simulated, as it plays an equally important role in the dynamic temperature profile. Recent studies published on Discrete Vasculature Models have proven impractical for clinical applications; there is a need for efficient temperature based optimisation method including thermal mechanical effect of discrete vasculature in the pelvic region taking the biochemical environment as well as all the other boundary conditions. The study will explore the how thermal mechanical boundary conditions play a role in the ablative technique in the pelvic region, where the dynamic temperature distribution across the pelvic region, which is of extreme importance in assessing the risk of introducing a thermal ablative technique in an area of the pelvis. More importantly, it will seek to ensure that the ablative energy used within the vein will not affect the major organs that are around the veins that are being treated. This will allow for safe, risk assessed feasibility of the new thermal technique proposed to be developed to the next stage of product development.